Spanish and other advances

I drifted in and out of three years of Spanish. The kid is studying it a little more vigorously in her kindergarten class. So I asked her to pick two books before bed and she chose 1. a Clifford book with a sense of humor way less developed than hers. And 2. El Conejito Andarin.

I assume if the title didn’t ring a bell, well, the cover did.

So I read El Conejito Andarin. My pronunciation was decent, perhaps even classroom perfect, but my comprehension — even knowing the source text in English — wasn’t word-for-word perfect. Regardless, we get to the near-conclusion and the kid pipes up, “Donde esta el conejito?” to this picture…

I decided to do my best to keep this conversation going.

“El conejito no es en el pinturo,” I told her.

“La pintura!” she corrected.

At which point I realized my five year old’s Spanish exceeded what I scarcely bothered to learn with a year of study in high school and two years of college. Admittedly, she’s been deeply immersed in the language, but still, there’s something to be said, I suppose, for picking up a second language early.

10 Responses

In Europe, kids start learning 2nd languages much earlier than the US. We wait until High School (usually) and by then, kids are focusing on the opposite sex and other things…Maybe we should start teaching our kids a 2nd language in the 1st or 2nd grade…but then, they might learn something and that hardly seems to be what school is about these days.

i made a book for my 5 yr old that has words in english, german, french & spanish. she’s not super interested in it, but i’m hoping that military life & the diversity in it will trump whatever programs the states we wind up living in offers (the high school my hubby went to only offered spanish). kudos to Hazel

There’s more than “something” to be said for picking up a language early. Studies have shown that humans’ ability to learn language starts to drop suddenly around ages 12-14. So early is the perfect time to pick up a newe language.

The bigger question I have is whether Spanish is the right language to be learning for future advancement. What if Hazel wants to be an investment banker in NYC, for instance? Some people are having their kids learn Chinese or Russian or Japanese or whatever.

Personally, I guess I feel like there are so many Asian immigrants, and so many SAHMs that live in wealthy areas who have resources that I do not in this department–like hiring daily tutors who are native speakers, for instance, or having so much extra time to work on home lessons and flash cards, because they don’t work outside the home–money for specialized camps and trips, etc., that it would be impossible for my kiddo to really compete well at something like Chinese. (And I don’t know Chinese one bean’s worth, besides, “Ni Hao” and “she she”, whereas I do have some background in Spanish.) I listened to these Chinese audio CDs when she was a baby and used to play them for her, and I couldn’t understand a flippin thing. I was lost within 5 minutes of the start. And I went to an Ivy League school…..Chinese is incredibly hard.

How did you guys decide for Hazel to learn Spanish, as opposed to something else?

My first thought: I think it’s wonderful that you are taking the time to help your daughter with schoolwork. Also, that it’s a language. So many people, including our politicians, don’t see the value of knowing a second language. I was fortunate enough to be raised in Venezuela (dad in the oil industry) and to become fluent in Spanish. At my current job there are people from all around the world. I am ever more convinced that having a second language gives one an advantage, not just in communication but even in the way you think.

My second thought: What you and your daughter said is not proper Spanish. Maybe I missed the joke, but neither word, “picturo” or “pictura”, exists in Spanish. And it should be “El conejito no está en el dibujo.”

Third: Any foreign language is better than none, and perhaps another language would take someone to more faraway or exotic places than Spanish will or be important at top levels of diplomacy or big business. But Spanish is always going to be extremely useful, even more than Chinese or French to most people. (I wish I could find the article where I just read that!)

Good for you for teaching your daughter a second language. I got fluent in Spanish after high school, and I can definitely attest it opens up so many doors. The day will come when she will be grateful for getting her into foreign languages so early!